


Faria Y Sousa

by laylee



Category: Sports Night
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-01
Updated: 2010-03-01
Packaged: 2017-10-07 15:25:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laylee/pseuds/laylee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan goes shopping and Casey wonders why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faria Y Sousa

Casey couldn't believe how wet Dan was.

"What did you do? Have a shower in your clothes?" he demanded as his partner stood dripping in their office.

Dan sighed. A long, patient sigh.

"Casey, in case you haven't noticed, it's raining outside!" Dan set down a carry-bag with 'Brophy's Hardware' printed on it and motioned to the window with a wild, extravagant gesture.

It was indeed raining outside. Bucketing down some might say.

"You walked to work in that?" Casey asked incredulously. "Danny, what were you thinking?"

"Obviously I wasn't," Dan muttered as he pulled of is saturated jacket. He looked at his equally wet jeans and grimaced. "Do you think Monica will lend me something from wardrobe?"

"Maybe. If you give her a muffin."

"I don't have a muffin."

"Then she probably won't lend you anything."

Dan frowned at him. "Anyone ever tell you how not helpful you are Casey?"

"I do my best." Casey's eyes came to rest on the carry-bag. "What's that?"

"What's what?"

Casey nodded at the carry bag. "That. What's in the bag?"

Dan flushed, grabbed the bag and ran from the office.

"Hey, don't over react or anything," Casey shouted as Dan sprinted through the newsroom.

~*~*~

Two hours later Casey was at a loose end, so he wandered into editing to see if Dan was there. Pestering Dan was always a good way to fill in time and he could spend a satisfactory half-hour ribbing him about the garish sweat pants and equally lurid shirt Monica had given him to wear while his clothes dried.

But Dan wasn't in editing and he wasn't in the tape library either. He wasn't scarfing doughnuts at the buffet table, nor was he asleep in the green room. He was, in fact, nowhere to be found.

However, Casey couldn't fail to notice a familiar looking carry-bag stuffed ineffectually behind the green room couch.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Casey carefully closed the door and crossed over to the couch. Feeling a little like he was snooping in his parent's closet the day before Christmas, he pulled out the bag and peered at its contents.

He wasn't expecting to find a Black &amp; Decker 18-Volt Cordless Drill Kit nestled inside.

~*~*~

An hour later Dan wandered into the office.

"Casey, I'm really thinking we should drop this piece on the Van Welder trade. Its not like anyone's surprised that it happened, and he's such an ass, why would we want to waste our time talking about it on national--"

"You bought a drill?"

Dan stopped in mid-rant and glared at his partner. Casey had placed the drill on the table and was sitting on the couch with his hands resting loosely in his lap. He'd been waiting very patiently for Dan to reappear so he could question him about his sudden need for power tools.

Dan's eyes widened and came to rest on the drill. For one brief moment Casey thought he going to bolt.

"Casey--"

"You bought a drill?"

Dan narrowed his eyes. "Why are you going through my things?"

"I did not go through your things. It was stuffed behind the couch in the green room. Did you think I would just ignore it?"

"I was hoping you would."

Casey quirked an eyebrow at him. Yeah, like that was going to happen.

"Danny?" He was using his patient voice now. The one he only found necessary to use on Charlie and Dan.

Dan dropped his eyes. "Yeah?"

"Why did you buy a drill?"

Dan shrugged and stabbed at the stain on the carpet from Casey's regrettable taco incident with his big toe. "I dunno. I was walking past the hardware shop and I saw it in the window. I thought I might be useful."

"Useful?"

"Yeah, useful. You know, to drill holes and--stuff."

Casey shook his head and tried not to snigger. "Danny, since when do you drill holes? In fact, when have you ever done anything remotely associated with carpentry?"

"When I was thirteen, I made a napkin holder for my mother in woodwork," Dan responded defensively.

"Oh I bet you did," Casey chortled, giving in to the urge to laugh. "I'm not even going to ask why you walked to work in the rain."

Dan's mouth twisted into a grimace. He started to speak then stopped abruptly and looked at his feet. Casey noticed Dan's socks were miss-matched and he hadn't seen him look so edgy since the last time Dana threatened him with World Cup Soccer coverage.

Casey rose from the couch and crossed over to his partner. He placed his hands on Dan's shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. "Can't let you out of my sight for five minutes, can I?"

"You're the one who wanted a night to himself," Dan muttered as continued to stare at his feet.

"So because I didn't want to--" Casey paused and glanced around because the walls often had ears and they loved a juicy piece of gossip. "--you know--last night, you retaliate by going out and buying a drill? In the rain?"

"No it wasn't like that."

"Then tell me how it was."

"The rain was an accident."

"How can rain be an accident?"

"It just was, okay?"

"And the drill? Was that an accident as well?"

"I, um--I dunno. It was--" Dan trailed of, scrunching his forehead in the way that always made Casey want to gather him in his arms and kiss it better.

"What?" Casey asked softly, squeezing Dan's shoulders.

"A moment of madness?" Dan offered with a helpless shrug.

Casey threw back his head and laughed again. "Jesus, Danny--"

Dan scowled at him and wriggled out of his grasp. "I'll be in editing," he muttered and fled.

~*~*~

It was a surprisingly good show that night. Casey insisted Dan go home with him, partially to make up for the night before, but mostly to prevent any more impromptu hardware purchases.

He made Dan leave the drill at the office.

Much later, as he watched Danny sleep, Casey stroked his hair and wondered what had brought about this latest episode of odd behaviour. He had meant to ask when they got home, but Dan had other ideas and it was kind of hard to question someone about their sudden urge to buy power tools when they were going down on you. By the time Casey had recovered his senses enough to think about it, Dan had fallen asleep.

"You're a strange man, Dan Rydell," Casey concluded, kissing Dan on the cheek before he curled up around his partner and went to sleep.

~*~*~

The next day Dan went out for a walk at lunchtime and came back with an Old- Fashioned Movie Time Popcorn Maker.

The day after that, an expedition to buy bagels resulted in the purchase of a ScumBuster Deluxe Power Scrubber.

On Thursday Casey enlisted Elliot and Chris' help to keep Dan in the office. But then Casey got stuck in the interview that would not end, Chris had to sub for a guy from West Coast Update on a field trip and a mysterious technical hitch in the control room kept Elliot tied up with Tech Support for most of the afternoon.

An hour before the six o'clock rundown, a Lakewood Digital Window Fan was added to the pile of things Dan Rydell did not need but bought anyway.

"You know how much I love Danny." Dana said later that evening when she and Casey were in her office discussing British Open coverage.

"I know."

"I value and respect his opinion."

"As do I."

"And you know that next to you, I think he's one of the best writers currently in the business."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate you saying so."

"And I'm really happy that you two are--you know--"

"Yes. And thank you."

"But Casey, I've gotta ask. Is Dan completely nuts?"

Coming from the nutty nut-girl herself, that was a big question.

Casey gave a despondent sigh and shook his head. "I really have no idea what's going on Dana. It's like some appliance buying demon has taken over his body."

"Could you at least confiscate his credit cards before he comes back with a lawn mower?"

Casey slumped in his seat and sighed again. Why did he always get stuck with Danny-duty?

Then he remembered how Danny-duty often resulted in naked-Danny doing things to naked-Casey that would make Larry Flynt blush.

Suddenly Danny-duty didn't seem so bad after all.

He gave Dana a goofy smile. "I'll see what I can do."

Sometimes it was good to be him.

Dana nodded, seemingly satisfied. "Good. Now I'm thinking that with Kelly tied up in Seattle and Bobbi working on the NBA special, we might have to get Jeff to do the coverage. Only you know how he hates flying, so we're going to have to--Casey!"

"Yeah?"

"Stop picturing Dan naked."

Casey blushed. Damn mind reader.

~*~*~

That night, neither Dan nor Casey got much sleep. But that was okay.

In the morning, Casey had all of Dan's credit cards and his ATM card tucked safely inside his wallet while Dan had a very large hickey on his left hip.

"I think you've scarred me for life," Dan groused, pushing at the waistband of his boxers so he could get a better look at it in Casey's full-length mirror.

Casey looked up from tying his shoelaces and flashed Dan a smug grin.

Dan scowled at him. "Shut up."

"Just be thankful it's not on your neck," Casey pointed out, moving over to the closet to grab his coat. He slapped Dan playfully on the ass. "Hurry up or we'll be late."

"Keep that up and we'll be more than late," Dan growled seductively.

"Don't even tempt me," Casey shot back with as much self-control as he could muster. Then he ran to the kitchen before he found out just how far he could be tempted and they really were late for work.

~*~*~

Casey forgot about the emergency one hundred dollars Dan kept in his wallet for - well - emergencies.

~*~*~

When Dan returned from interviewing Stacy Compton with a Presto Pizzazz Pizza Oven, Casey finally drew the line.

"Okay, what's going on?" he demanded, slamming the door to wardrobe shut and flipping the lock so they wouldn't be disturbed.

Dan suddenly became very involved in pulling on his pants.

"Danny?"

"Nothing. Nothing's going on." Dan zippered his trousers and reached for his belt. Casey couldn't fail to notice how he was avoiding eye contact.

"Oh I think there is."

Dan slid the belt into the loops of his pants and fastened the buckle. "No, really, there isn't."

Casey took a step forward, right into Dan's personal space. "Danny, our office is starting to look like an electrical discount warehouse. Don't tell me nothing is going on." He reached out and touched Dan's wrist, curling his fingers around it in a loose grip. Dan stilled under Casey's touch and finally looked at Casey. "What's going on Danny?" he asked softly.

Dan breathed in and held it, his mouth pressed into a tight line. He blinked a couple of times and Casey began to wonder if he was ever going to speak, when Dan exhaled dramatically and frowned.

"I'm getting old Casey," he grumbled.

Casey couldn't help it. He started to laugh.

"That's it?" he asked incredulously. "This is why you're acting like some crazy appliance-buying mad man?"

Dan nodded and gave Casey a rueful smile. "Yeah."

Casey laughed some more and shook his head. "Danny, you're thirty-three. That's four years younger than _me_. You're not old for like, another forty years!"

"Yeah but--"

"Is this because that intern said he was too young to know who Boris Becker is? I told you to ignore him, Danny. I mean really, how can anyone claim to be a tennis fanatic and not know who Boris Becker is?"

Dan shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that. It's--"

"What then?" Casey could feel the twinge of a headache building in his left temple. Sometimes getting Dan to talk really was worse than pulling teeth. "Danny!"

"The morning I bought the drill, I got a call from Dave," Dan finally admitted.

"Why is Dave calling you?" Casey could think of no conceivable reason why Dave would call Dan at home.

"Not our Dave," Dan clarified. "My brother David."

"Oh. Right." Two Daves. It was very confusing at times.

But why did a call from Dan's brother throw him into such a tizz? Unlike the strained relationship he had with his father, Dan got along fine with his brother. Well, as fine as you can with someone who lived in California and saw his family maybe once every two years.

"So what did David have to say for himself?" Casey asked.

Dan muttered something unintelligible.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that."

"He'shavingababy," Dan muttered quickly

"Pardon?"

"He and Bethany," Dan said, more clearly this time. "They're having a baby. I'm going to be an uncle."

"But that's great news," Casey enthused. "You're going to make a great, Danny. Look how much Charlie loves hanging out with you. I can't get a look-in when you;re around."

"Hmm, I guess. Good old Uncle Dan."

There was a flicker of something in Dan's eyes that told Casey more than his words ever would. It finally dawned on him.

Panic. Good, old-fashioned panic about becoming an uncle was driving Dan into an appliance buying frenzy as a way of coping with it all. Only in Dannyland could that make any sense.

"Just because your brother is having a baby, doesn't mean your getting old," Casey reassured him. "It just means life keeps moving. Look at me. My sister has two kids and I'm still standing."

"Yeah but, you're--" Dan waved his hand at Casey in a vague gesture. "--you're you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're the guy whose sister has kids and doesn't care if they call you uncle." Dan was almost whining now and Casey had to resist the urge to shake him. "I'm not that guy Casey. At least I wasn't until now. I don't know that I'm ready to be somebody's uncle. I have a hard enough time just being me."

"You make it sound like a death sentence."

"It is a death sentence," Dan said, looking miserable "A death sentence to my being the cool one. The niece and/or nephew-free guy who no one calls uncle."

"Whom Danny, _whom_. And it's really not that bad."

Dan's shoulders sagged. "Wanna make a bet?"

"You'll get used to it," Casey assured him. "I bet you'll even enjoy it. Think about it. Someone you can freely encourage to hate soccer as much as you do. Now that's got to appeal on some level?"

"I guess," Dan muttered half-heartedly.

"Anyway," Casey continued, "what about when I became a dad? Didn't seem to bother you then and believe me, its way scarier than becoming an uncle."

"Yeah, but that was different. That was Charlie and Charlie is--" Dan's lips curved into a wondrous smile. "Charlie's a miracle."

Shit. He had no hope of resisting that. How could you not love a guy who thought your son was a miracle?

"You're insane, you know that don't you?" Casey said affectionately as he folded Dan into his arms. "Would it help if I said you were still cool?"

"Maybe," Dan snuffled against Casey's shoulder. "But then you'd have to know what the meaning of cool was, and for you Case--"

"Shut up," Casey growled, nuzzling at Dan's neck. "I know cool. I know you're pretty hot too."

Dan's arms tightened around Casey's waist. "Mmm, now you're talking."

"Don't let it go to you're head," Casey whispered, dotting kisses along Dan's jaw. "I'm only saying it to make you feel better."

"Whatever," Dan muttered before he captured Casey's lips in a searing kiss.

A few minutes later, when they were both breathing normally again, Casey pulled away from Dan and fixed him with a stern gaze.

"Okay, no more shopping for electrical appliances," he said firmly.

"No more shopping," Dan agreed. "Except--"

Casey rolled his eyes. "What did you buy this time?"

Looking sheepish, Dan went to his locker and rummaged around in it for a moment.

"I actually got this about a month ago," he said, turning back to Casey. "I've been looking for the right moment to give it to you, but I guess now's as good a time as any." Dan held out a box in a familiar shade of duck-egg blue with 'Tiffany &amp; Co.' stamped on the lid. "It's just a token--you know."

Casey could feel himself go pale. "Jesus, Danny. What have you done?"

"Bought you a present?" Dan responded uncertainly. He offered the box to Casey who took it with shaking fingers.

Almost frightened about what he would find, Casey carefully opened the box, breathing becoming something of an issue when he saw the gleaming silver watch nestled inside.

"It's the--" Dan began.

"I know what it is." Casey knew exactly what it was. He'd been gazing at that self-same watch every time he went near Tiffany's for months. He also knew exactly how much it cost.

This wasn't just a token. This was for real.

Casey looked at Dan, his eyes wide and questioning. "Why?"

"I dunno. Just 'cause." Dan was trying to act casual, but Casey could almost hear the thoughts careening through his mind. He wanted Casey to like it, but he was also scared that he'd gone too far, however it was too late to take it back so all he could do was grin and hope for the best. Casey knew exactly how he felt.

Casey looked at the watch again and let go a soft breath. All he could think was 'Oh My God!'

"Danny I can't," he protested weakly.

"Yes you can," Dan insisted.

"It's too much."

"No it isn't."

"I can't--"

"You can and you will. Anyway, I had it engraved so now you have to 'cause I don't think they're going to give me a refund."

Dan took the watch out of the box, turning it over so Casey could see the back. Casey squinted at the engraving, etched out in plain block letters. 'CRMcC from DWR 11/23/93'. Their initials and the date of their first broadcast together on Lone Star Sports.

"I think I finally realised how I felt about you with you that day," Dan admitted quietly. "Even though it took me another eight years to tell you. And I knew how much you wanted it, so I thought--" he looked at Casey, his eyes brimming with pure, raw emotion. "I thought I'd make a gesture. To, you know, to show you how I feel."

"Fuck, Danny." Casey enfolded his partner in the most loving embrace possible.

"So you really like it?"

"Shut up and kiss me."

"You really--mmph--"

~*~*~

That night during the broadcast, Casey took every opportunity he could find to adjust his tie or smooth his lapels with his left hand, making sure everyone could see his new watch as it glinted under the studio lights.

Thirty minutes in to the show, Dana finally took the hint.

"That's some serious watch action you've got happening there, Casey," she said through the PA.

"Why thank you Dana," Casey responded neutrally.

"What sort of watch is it Casey?" Natalie asked.

"Funny you should ask, Natalie." Casey beamed at the control room like a proud father showing off his first born. "It is in fact a chronograph bracelet from Tiffany's ATLAS collection. It's waterproof, it has a stainless steel case and band, a scratch-proof crystal, three sub-dials _and _a Swiss mechanism, you know."

"I do now," said Dana.

"It's a very nice watch."

"Yes it is Casey. It really is."

"A watch worthy of my stature and place in life."

Dana's tone became exasperated. "Don't push it Casey. I told you I liked the watch."

"What do you think about the watch Dan?" Casey asked his partner who had been keeping his eyes firmly focused on his script during the exchange.

"It's a good watch," Dan agreed, looking up.

Casey nodded and gave Dan a surreptitious wink. "I'm glad you approve."

"How could I not?"

Casey grinned at him. "It'd be hard, I'm telling you."

Dan smirked back then said, "Hey, does anyone want to buy a power drill?"

FIN


End file.
